People

Charles B. Wang
Charles B. Wang is Founder and Chair Emeritus of Computer Associates, co-owner of New York Islanders, and philanthropist. Coming to America from Shanghai as a child of eight, Charles Wang proved a keen athlete, star student, and an outstanding businessman whose software company, Computer Associates International Inc., became a world leader.

Wang embodies the American dream, but he is also steeped in an older heritage: “As a Chinese-American I cherish the land of my birth,” he says, “and I cherish the land that gave me a home. I am indeed doubly blessed. It’s a long way from Shanghai to Stony Brook, but thanks to technology, the world is shrinking every day, and that’s a very good thing for us. As we all get to know one another, as we get to interact with different cultures and different countries, the walls that divide us begin to crumble.”

Wang founded Computer Associates International, Inc. with three associates in 1976. Born in Shanghai, China, in 1944, he moved to the United States with his family in 1952. He earned a B.S. degree in mathematics from Queen’s College and began his computer career at Columbia University’s Riverside Research Institute as a programming trainee. He is the author of Techno Vision II: Every Executive’s Guide to Understanding and Mastering Technology and the Internet, which educates decision-makers about the e-Business Revolution. He serves on several corporate boards and has been active in charitable causes such as the Smile Train, the Make a Wish Foundation, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

He believes passionately that he should share the benefits of his unique experience and success. As a beneficiary of public education, Wang chose to endow Stony Brook University to reach those young people, many of
them also immigrants, who will use the gift as a gateway to
success.

Sunita Mukhi
Dr. Sunita S. Mukhi, Director of Asian and Asian American Programs for the Charles B. Wang Center, is a cultural manager, performance scholar, and artist. She has a B.A. in behavioral sciences and in literature from De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines; an M.A. degree in interdisciplinary studies in the social sciences from San Francisco State University; and a Ph.D. in performance studies from New York University.

She comes to Stony Brook from the Asia Society, where she was Senior Program Associate for Multidisciplinary Projects and Asian American Connections in the Cultural Programs Division. Born and bred in the Philippines of South Asian origin, having short stints in Mumbai and Singapore, and having lived the last 17 years in the United States, has provided Dr. Mukhi with an international understanding of migration and the global interconnectedness of peoples.

"I look forward to helping make the Wang Center a vital space for multidisciplinary and multicultural dialogues," said Ms. Muhki. "The Center is a site of such beauty and possibility that I can imagine Stony Brook University growing into an even more vibrant hub for the arts, culture, and intellect."

As a cultural manager, Dr. Mukhi has produced innovative programming in her position at the Asia Society as Senior Programs Associate for Multidisciplinary Projects and Asian American Community Connections. She has presided over, participated in, and moderated numerous panel discussions, and given lectures and addresses on topics ranging from identity politics, performativity, arts, and the South Asian diaspora. She is also currently teaching at the Asian Pacific American Studies program at New York University.

Her work appears in Contours of the Heart: South Asians Map North America, Art Spiral, and Little India magazine. The essay "Underneath My Blouse Beats My Indian Heart: Indian Womanhood, Hindi Film Dance, and Nationalism" has been printed in A Patchwork Shawl (Rutgers University Press, 1998), and her most recent book is Doing the Desi Thing: Performing Indianness in New York City (Garland Publishing/Routledge, 2000).

She has performed, directed, and choreographed in university, community, and professional theatrical, television, and film productions in Manila, the United States, Mexico, and Singapore. She is also a story-teller and appears in numerous family day events at the Asia Society, the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and other venues.

James Harvey
Jim Harvey, Director of Conferences & Special Events at Stony Brook University, has18 years of conference and special events experience in the profit, not-for-profit, and higher education sectors. He has served as Associate Director of Convention Services for the Modern Language Association, Senior Convention Services and Operations Manager for the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and most recently as Coordinator of the Newman and Vertical Campus Conference Centers at Baruch College. He has managed conventions and conferences at venues throughout the continental United States as well as Canada and Hawaii. Jim holds a B.A. from Brooklyn College and an M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University.

P.H. Tuan
Wang Center designer P.H. Tuan was born in Shanghai, China, where he completed his secondary school education. After a brief stay in Hong Kong, he immigrated to America in 1955. He received his architectural degree from the University of Michigan in 1961.

Tuan gained his early training and experience at SOM, Perkins & Will and Victor Gruen, before establishing his own practice nearly thirty years ago. His practice usually includes both design and construction management, based on the traditional concept that the architect is responsible for the design and construction of a building, from conception to completion.

Tuan has described the Wang Center's unique design as "an introduction to Asian architecture." Although Tuan's work is greatly influenced by international currents, he resists being labelled as an "international style" architect.

Tuan recently designed a new university law school for 2000 students in Suzhou, China. On his many trips to China, he noted that new construction has been prolific, but discovered very few new buildings can be identified with China in a contemporary sense. For this reason, he formed a non-profit organization, the Institute for the Advancement of Contemporary Chinese Architecture (IACCA), with the long-term goal to promote a new style of contemporary Chinese architecture. IACCA is currently funded by private contributions.